2y ago

France fines Amazon $35 million for 'excessively intrusive' monitoring of warehouse staff

apnews.com

BrainWorms @lemm.ee

DeadWorld @lemm.ee

2y ago

France fines Amazon $35 million for 'excessively intrusive' monitoring of warehouse staff

apnews.com /article/amazon-fine-monitoring-workers-privacy-france-d503314234ccacb366e2afaa49d097b1

18 comments

for context, that's 0.04% of the profits Amazon earned in France alone (€9B) in 2022.
- Which if my math is correct, at an average US household income of $75k that is equivalent to a whopping $30.
  As always, when the fine is less than the extra profits earned by breaking the law that's just the cost of doing business. Until these fines are like 10x+ the extra profits earned this is going to be the normal.
  
  I've always advocated for fines to be assessed as a percentage of global annual revenue.
  "Oh, your global revenue was $100B? That will be $1b please."
  
  The fines need to be large enough to upset the shareholders if they are going to have any effect.
Oh no, however will Amazon recover from having to pay the equivalent of checks notes a cinema ticket?
- They already put ads on Prime Video now and charge $2.99 a month to remove them. Expect it to be higher in a few months if they have to pay this.
  
  Expect it to be higher in a few months ~~if they have to pay this.~~
  they will charge the maximum amount they can, regardless of costs. they always have.
$35 million
Très petit
- yeah the fine is more like a warning telling them to not do this anymore
They'll have made that back several times over in the time it took them to send them the fee
'tis but a business expense
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The French Data Protection Authority, also known by its acronym CNIL, said the system allowed managers at Amazon France Logistique to track employees so closely that it resulted in multiple breaches of the European Union’s stringent privacy rules, called the General Data Protection Regulation.
“We strongly disagree with the CNIL’s conclusions, which are factually incorrect, and we reserve the right to file an appeal,” Amazon said.
“Warehouse management systems are industry standard and are necessary for ensuring the safety, quality and efficiency of operations and to track the storage of inventory and processing of packages on time and in line with customer expectations.”
The watchdog’s investigation focused on Amazon employees’ use of handheld barcode scanners to track packages at various points as they move through the warehouse, such as putting them in crates or packing them for delivery.
Seattle-based Amazon uses the system to manage its business and meet performance targets, but the regulator said it’s different from traditional methods for monitoring worker activity and puts them under “close surveillance” and “continuous pressure.”
The system is used to measure employee productivity as well as “periods of inactivity,” but under EU privacy rules, “it was illegal to set up a system measuring work interruptions with such accuracy, potentially requiring employees to justify every break or interruption,” the watchdog said.
The original article contains 329 words, the summary contains 218 words. Saved 34%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
- Ok, snowflake
- I imagine /s ^
Only about 3,000 more billionaires to serve as dragon dinners

18 comments